


three years

by nolongeritoinicteenwrites



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:02:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29640645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nolongeritoinicteenwrites/pseuds/nolongeritoinicteenwrites
Summary: hello. uh im in naruto hell. so yeahthis will be a thing i still write on tumblr under the same name as here.this is part 1 of three years they'll be like two more parts that'll probably become a thing.but they'll be more than just that probably grow more and ill tag as necessary
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji & Reader, Hyuuga Neji/Reader
Kudos: 5





	1. pt. 1

Kiba kicked the grass in front of him. He looked like a kicked puppy. You felt it in your heart. You were leaving your home, the place you spent the last seventeen years of your life, and everyone around you looked so sad for you. 

“Guys. I’m not dying. I’m just-” 

“Leaving.” Kiba finished. 

“Kiba come here.” 

You pull him down to you and you kiss his forehead. Kiba smiled at you but he still looked sad. Akamaru even nudges your hand, making you drop to your knees, to kiss him and tell him goodbye as well. 

“Where’s your boyfriend? Waiting for him is such a drag.” 

You looked at your childhood best, Shikamaru. 

“Shikamaru.” There was a tone of warning in your voice. 

“What? All your friends are here telling you bye and your boyfriend isn’t here? Our teachers even came to see you off.” 

You flushed and punched him in the shoulder. He had a point. He fake winced then went back to a regulated deadpan expression. 

“If you must know. He had work. So we said goodbye already.” 

Shikamaru tisked. Tenten and Lee took this opportunity to hug you with Neji. He just offered you a small smile and a side hug. You took it, you knew how he could be. Your heart squeezed at that. 

“We got you some gifts,” Neji spoke quietly. “We all kind of worked on it with Sai’s help.” 

Choji and Shino handed you a bag. It caused you to sit on the ground to open the bag. First, you pulled out a small box. You unwrapped the box and opened it out to pull out a pendant and chain. Everyone produced similar things. It was a friendship pendant. Neji had it on his keys like Sasuke and Shino. Everyone else with the exception of Shikamaru wore them as bracelets. Shikamaru wore a necklace like yours was set to be. You smiled putting it on. 

“I love it. We all match.” 

“There’s more.” Tenten sang. 

You couldn’t believe it, there was more. You pulled out a frame. Sai looked so excited and proud. You flipped it to see a picture. An adorable picture. 

“It’s a screen print but before we all took turns coloring each other,” he explained grinning ear to ear. 

You smiled. 

“If you want to know who colored who, Sai and I colored each other along with Neji, Neji ended up coloring you since you couldn’t know. Shino and Naruto, Tenten and Kiba, Lee and Sasuke, Hinata and Choji and we even got Ino and Sakura to get along to make this for you.” Shikamaru explained. 

“I love you guys.” 

Everyone smiled and chimed “I love you too” all around. Giving you hugs all around Even your old teachers gave you hugs. You felt the love when you were given a college survival kit from the teachers. You smiled and waved. Shikamaru grabbed your wrist before you walked away. 

“Troublesome woman. Making me already miss you.” 

“What a drag.” 

He hugged you tight. You felt him smirk against your temple. You felt your eyes get misty-eyed. The Leaf was your home, leaving it to go to school was hard for you since you were going nearly two cities away and had no friends. But this program was the gateway into your future, especially in music. You looked out over the town before going to your car, you’ll be back. You promised. 

That was three years ago. You had made good, you would go home once a month and then again during the holidays. A lot for you has changed. You meet the greatest roommate ever and her siblings. You four started a band with them. You got cheated on about halfway through your freshman year. Released an EP with them. Graduated early. You know the works. It was a change. 

Before the concert, you were scheduled to perform for your EP when someone knocked on the door. You were confused. Normally one of the members just opened the door. Temari and Kankuro just let themself in, Gaara never. You sighed and called for them to come in. Temari opened the door looking a bit annoyed holding, Shikamaru. 

“(Y/N)? Do you know this guy?” 

“Shikamaru?” 

He pulled his arm away from her. She nodded and walked away. Once she was out of earshot Shikamaru looked at her go, almost like he was checking her out. 

“She is..” 

“My keyboard player…” You replied by getting up. “Why are you here? It’s like- we’re like two hours both from the show and home.” 

“We made the trip to come to see you?” he looked more confused than anything. 

“All of you?” You asked skeptically. 

“I got Neji to drive..” he responded 

You snorted. It felt hard to believe. As you were getting ready to respond Kiba nearly smashed into Shikamaru and then Naruto over his shoulder. 

“(Y/N)!” 

You tripped over yourself backward. But someone grabbed them by the collar and pulled them backward. 

“You two need to be leashed. Hey (Y/N).” Sakura smiled. 

You waved and moved aside to allow others into the room. Soon all your friends were standing in your dressing room with you sitting on the makeup counter. Everyone was really interested in your new look. 

“Your hair..” Neji pointed out. 

“Yeah, um breakups will do that. You decide the time to change.” you felt the sides. You decided to pixie your hair before the release of the EP. “Do you like it?” 

He nodded. Reaching out himself to tuck a part of your bangs behind your ear. You blushed a little and looked at him. His eyes were soft and very blue in stark contrast to his long black hair tied up in a ponytail and black shirt. You took in what he was wearing, he was dressed in a black t-shirt and light wash jeans, pinched and rolled with a pair of black hightops. He had on a bomber jacket and his hair pulled back. You caught the look of shock on Shikamaru’s face. You flushed more and looked at the time.

“How I’m sorry I have to finish getting ready- I uh. Look come back here after the show- and I’ll introduce you to my bandmates.” 

Everyone took turns hugging you before leaving. Shikamaru hung back to look at you. 

“What was that?” 

“I don’t know Shikamaru. I don’t know.” 

He smirked and walked away for you to get ready. You were not going to think much about that interaction. Neji and you were just friends. That’s it nothing more, nothing less. 

The show went off without a hitch. It was great. You haven’t felt this alive in years. You saw your friends out in the crowd. It’s been a long since you’ve done something like this, you never felt more alive in your moment. You danced and sang your heart out with Temari and Gaara. You worked the crowd. You caught Neji’s eye and sent him a wink just to see what happened and he flushed and continued nursing his drink. 

You got backstage and rushed to your room to change. Then another moment passed while you calmed down a knock came. You opened the door to see Gaara. You smiled at him and invited him in. 

“Gaara you were amazing.” 

“You are too sweet. I wanted to run a different setlist by you for tomorrow before I left.” 

Temari and Kankuro showed up too and the four of you were discussing what the next plan was.    
  
“Uh (Y/N)?” asked Shikamaru. 

You lit up and invited them in. 

“Guys these are my best friends I’ve told you about. Shikamaru and Temari meet. But Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro meet the leaf. Leaf met my band.” 

One by one they all introduced themselves to one another and fell into quiet conversation with each other. You leaned on your makeup mirror and Neji jumped up on the counter with you and smiled. 

“You were great.” 

“Thank you.” 

He smiled a soft, reserved smile for you and leaned against you. He asked you some basic questions and then he hit you with an unexpected conversation. 

“So you and Gaara have some really good um are you two well?” 

“No. God no. He’s gay as hell.” 

Neji blushed and looked at the redhead. Who was engulfed in a conversation with Rock Lee. You smiled at him. Neji didn’t know what to say he just looked nervously at you. You didn’t need him to speak more, you knew why he was asking. You leaned your head on his shoulder, he tenses up a bit before relaxing with you. Hinta saw this and slapped Ino. 

“Finally!” 

You both jumped and looked at each other before both of you flushed. You shrugged. You weren’t sure what was going on but you weren’t mad. You had a soft spot for Neji, always. Even when you were dating Koma. He kissed your shoulder and you laughed. Shikamaru smirked to himself. Everyone pretends not to see anything. Hinata was nearly vibrating in excitement for her cousin. He’s never shown interest so this was new for everyone. Neji has always had feelings for you, he always has even back when you were with your ex. And you two were going to figure that out. Everyone funneled out after an hour or so. Neji and you parted ways with a promise to talk more about whatever this will be when you get home but for now, you’ll settle for texting non-stop like you're in high school. And that made you happy. 

You were packing up when your phone vibrated, you pulled it out to see two text messages. One from Neji and one from Shikamaru. 

**_n. hyuuga_ **

_ I had a great night. I’ll have to come to more shows of yours. Thank you. <3 _

**_you_ **

_ be safe driving back please. i cant wait <3 _

**_s. nara_ **

_ im gonna date ur keyboard player  _

**_you_ **

_ pls no _

**_s. nara_ **

_ ima date her harder now.  _

You groaned getting into your car beside Temari. 

“What?” she asked. 

“Just Shikamaru.” 

She hummed, nodding crossing her legs. Kankuro was removing his makeup and looking at you too. Gaara fell asleep against the window. 

“I’m gonna date your best friend.” 

You headbutted the steering wheel and she laughed at your reaction. You left grumbling you couldn’t believe this. 


	2. pt 2

You put your car in park and sighed. Finally, you were home after longer than you wanted to admit. But you were happy nonetheless. Which meant you were finally going to address the elephant in the room with Neji. Instead of texting till three am you could finally discuss what you were. You looked at your parents' house in front of you as you got out of the car. 

“(Y/N)!” your mom called from the open kitchen window. 

You smiled wide and you trekked up the driveway. The house was quiet save your mom’s washing in the kitchen. You found your way in there and gave her a huge hug. 

“Where’s dad?” 

“In the backyard, he’s doing some gardening and collecting the vegetables for me. You can go see.” 

You figured unpacking your car can wait for later. You wanted to go see your dad. You kissed your mom on the cheek before going outside. You were thrown through a loop to not see your dad, but see your friends all there. 

“Welcome home!” they shouted. 

You doubled back smiling before rushing to hug them all. You were overwhelmed. You might have only seen them like two weeks ago you were happy to be home. Even if it was only a little while. 

“We missed you.” Naruto laughed pulling you in for another hug. 

“We saw her like a week ago?” Sai replied, confused. 

You ruffled Sai’s hair when a set of arms wrapped around your middle. You tensed up before smelling the familiar smell of cigarettes. 

“Traitor.” 

“For?” Shikamaru asked. 

“Dating my keyboard player. Smoking. Or where you spending time with Azuma seeing your godchild?” 

“The latter.” 

You rolled your eyes and he let you go but not without rubbing his cheek to yours and pulling away. You huffed and backed away. You didn’t get far before bumping into something cold. A set of hands-on the back of your elbows. 

“You got a tattoo?” 

Neji. 

You spun around and checked out the inside of your elbow blushing. 

“I uh yeah. I have four actually.” 

He looked impressed. Not deterred, he grabbed your arm and saw the grl pwr tattoo on the inside of your elbow. You and Temari have matching ones since you two were two women who basically front a band. You have three others. You have a paper airplane on the back of your shoulder, a galaxy piece on your side, and on your thigh, there was a storm cloud that under a UV or blacklight made the lighting bolt shine. Neji smiled at you. You heard someone gag behind you. You had the vaguest feeling it was Kiba. You turned around and pulled your eye and stuck your tongue at him. He hugged you and you laughed. 

You spent the afternoon with your friends and parents until you were nearly falling asleep where you sat. You didn’t realize how tired you were until you let yourself relax against Neji. The night grew colder and the party moved inside. It quickly became a quiet night after that, movies and drinks and crashing on the couch. Well you crashed on the couch everyone else went home to Shikamaru’s to get their car or ride home. Neji once everyone was ready to go brought you to your bedroom and kissed you goodnight before leaving. 

“Are you going to ask her?” Lee asked. 

“Ask her what?” Sai asked guiding Ino to Shikamaru’s. 

“Ask (Y/N) out properly.” 

Neji glared at Lee and pulled his jacket closed. He ignored the question which Shikamaru didn’t like. He imposed himself over Neji but Neji was just slightly, only slightly taller. Shikamaru crossed his arms and glared. Which in itself is nerve-inducing. 

“Well, Neji what are your plans with my best friend?” 

“If you must know, I like her. Clearly. So I wish to ask her out.” 

“Hurt her and your ass is mine.” 

“I don’t like you like that at all but I would never, I’m not Koma.” 

Shikamaru gave one glare and then nodded. Neji waisted until he looked away to silently release his breath. 

“There’s your answer Lee. Be safe getting back you guys text the group when you all make it back home.” Shikamaru waved before going inside. 

Neji gathered Hinata, Naruto, Lee, and TenTen and headed to everyone’s respective homes. He and Lee lived together, Hinata and Naruto lived together, and TenTen lived in the same building at Neji and Lee. Neji didn’t let anyone talk on the car ride back. He didn’t wish to speak about his love life with anyone anymore. Once in the comfort of his own apartment he let his hair down and groaned. 

“Neji- I’m sorry. You guys were just so cozy.” 

“Lee I’m not upset with you. I mean you were just speaking about what you saw.” Neji replied while pulling off his jacket. “She’s back for a year while some of her bandmates finish school. I have time but no time when I can’t even talk to her about my feelings!” Neji flopped onto the sofa neglecting to take off his shoes. 

“You could talk maybe Guy and Kakashi-sensei.” Lee sat by him. 

Neji didn’t hate that idea. It would have been better than talking to his own father. Not that he didn’t want to, but he didn’t think his dad could help. His mom made the first move on his dad. But with Guy-sensei it was an accident with him and Kakashi but probably better advice than his father so maybe Lee was onto something there. 

**_menace to sobriety_ **

**_the boulder_ **

_Neji and I are home._

**_tippy_ **

_As am I._

**_eyes_ **

_Naruto and me too._

**_glasses_ **

_Kiba is drunk on the floor of his house crying to Akimaru about the boy in facepaint?_

**_fur culture_ **

_traitor!_

**_pencil ****_ **

_ Ino and Sakura are trying to dye their hair.  _

**_*eye roll*_ **

_They’re getting along?_

**_pencil ***_ **

_sauske isn’t here to fight over. i'm on watch duty.._

**_omnipotent friend_ **

_ dont let them make bad choices they’ll regret in like 5 minutes.  _

**_*eye roll*_ **

_or you could._

**_omnipotent friend_ **

_ill remove you_

**_*eye roll*_ **

_not ur chat_

_ fur culture changed the admin to omnipotent friend  _

**_*eye roll*_ **

_im in danger_

The chat died down after that and you fell back asleep. Neji laughed. This chat has bounced admin to admin and the nicknames change often enough to keep anyone entertained. Neji himself got ready for bed. Rock Lee stayed up a bit longer than him to do some work for his up-and-coming school week. He was student teaching this week. 

The next morning everyone woke to a few changes in the group chat. You changed a few nicknames and the title 

_ the void calls me forth _ ****

**_gremlin_ **

_(y/n)! how dare you call me a gremlin._

**_void keeper_ **

_bc im not kiba and you will not bully me_

**_pretty boy_ **

_im pretty?_

**_sai-duck_ **

_i like this more._

**_fur culture_ **

_I deserve this honestly. All though these were good changes. neji is pretty, sai clever pun and shikamaru deserved it. you should have been this admin from the s_ tart 

**_whoji_ **

we told you that from the start, and two she came up with half the original nicknames 

**_the boulder_ **

_ teenagers scare me.  _

You snorted and walked down the stairs. Kiba just accepted his fate. It was almost perfect. Your mom left you a note about her plans for the day. Your father was there for the day but he was engrossed in work. You ate something quickly and popped your head in to say hello to him. He waved at you and went about your day. 

**_n. hyuuga_ **

Good morning. Can you meet me at The Blossom for coffee? 

**_you_ **

sure. totally. see you in ten?

**_n. hyuuga_ **

Yes. Of course. Cannot wait. 

You smiled to yourself walking down the stairs. Your mom was gone for the day. You could hear the television on. You popped your head in to see your dad watching a show about rocks. You smiled while he just read in his rocker the noise in the background. You leaned on the frame waiting for him to notice you. It takes him a moment before he looks up from his book and he smiles. 

“What’s up buttercup?” 

“I’m going to get coffee, do you need anything while I’m out?” 

He shakes his head no. 

“Go have fun. I’ll see you later.”

You smiled and blew him a kiss. Walking into the kitchen you grabbed your jacket and purse off the coat rack. You slipped your phone into your jacket pocket and started on your walk. The great thing is The Blossom was a five-minute walk from your house. The walk, while short, gave you time to reflect. You thought about Neji. You probably always liked him, it went through phases where you liked him more than a friend, but then Koma happened. That six months of your life where Neji didn’t cross your mind. But now it all seems to be falling into place. 

As you approached the cafe, Neji was already there. He looked beautifully aloof. You quietly walked up to him while he scrolled on his phone. His light skin contrasting against his dark hair and the bright red t-shirt and checkered pants to match. You honestly were a mixture of both impressed and intimidated by him. He always looked like he had his life together. You looked down at yourself and how you were dressed. You layered tights under overalls with a baggy sweater on top. You felt like you weren’t dressed well enough to compete with him. He looked up at you and smiled. He gently pulled you to him and kissed your forehead. You weren’t sure what you two were but you were content. 

“This is my treat, come on.” He smiled opening the door for you, “I picked this place because no one would come here or neither do I think our friends care enough to find us. This place has chai lattes and oat milk which I know are your favorites.” 

You smiled, cheeks becoming redder. 

“You remembered?” 

“Of course,” he responded.  _ It’s because I love you.  _ But he didn’t let her know that. 

You held onto the crook of his elbow whilst he ordered. He ended up ordering for both of you while you had a small smile on your features. He ordered the chai latte for you and a simple London fog drink. You weren’t expecting that. As if he read your mind. 

“I had a small cup of coffee before I decided to ask you out. Do you want anything else?” he asked. 

“Do you want to split a coffee cake?” 

Neji nodded. His eyes lit up like you hung the stars in the sky. You felt very on par with Neji, finally. You and he walked over to a table situated in the corner by the window. It was a kind of chilly morning for how early in September that it was. You rested your head on your hand looking between him and the window before you asked. 

“Don’t you work on Monday? Like a new startup position at a family-owned accounting firm?” You asked, smirking. 

Neji smiled at your question crossing his legs and leaning over to rest his head on his hands, thinking for a moment to formulate an answer for you. 

“Yes but technically no. My days got changed because I’m going back to school for my masters so my uncle has me working sparingly.” 

“Your masters? That’s great!” you smiled excitedly. 

He looked very bemusingly at you. He offered a hand to you to hold across the table. The two of you shared the cake and drinks in silence. No need to talk currently. The two of you spoke sparingly and worked on individual projects. You worked on songs and he worked on some classwork. 

“Neji. What are we?” you asked. 

The keyboard clicking stopped. You felt your body tense. Had you pushed a boundary? He was hesitating and you were getting progressively more anxious. He started wringing his hands, but you quietly waited for him to answer you. Seconds felt like hours to you waiting. 

“I-I knew this was coming but I-” He sighed softly, “I was just trying to feel out how you felt before I spoke to you about me.” Neji explained, “(Y/N) I have liked you probably since I was fifteen. But our lives never seemed to line up. Call it destiny if you will always seem to escape me. I dated, you dated. I got scared of my feelings for you but not anymore I can’t. I don’t want to. I- I want to take care of you, and be with you and support you.” He ended up just muttering to himself. 

Your heart clenched watching him. You smiled that he was being honest with you. Even though he was avoiding your eye contact. You reached out to grab his hand to get his attention. He slowly let you coax his hand into yours while you figured out how to respond. 

“Thank you, Neji for being honest with me. I know how you feel. You bore your feelings to me for how you feel. I accept your feelings.” you replied, smiling. “And I- I would love nothing more than this to work out. It would need work. Between music and you being in school again it won’t be easy, and I’m sorry for that. I wish I can be more for you.” 

“You’re perfect enough.” He brought your hand to his lips to kiss. “You are worth the work.” 

Kiba was passing by when he stopped and did a double-take. He was convinced that he saw you and Neji but he wasn’t sure. 

_ the void calls me forth  _

**_fur culture_ **

_ r (y/n) and neji on a date?  _

**_ino-yeet-chi_ **

_ why would that be ur concern if they were kiba? _

**_fur culture_ **

_ b/c im not being left out of this revelation once it happens like i was when lee came out. also i see them..  _

Kiba was squinting at the frosted glass window. Neither you nor Neji knew what was going on in that chat; both of you had your phones picked up. Kiba needed to know so he quietly snuck into the cafe and to a booth on the other side of the store from you two. Not that you would have noticed, either way, you and Neji were in your own little world. It looked like a date to Kiba. 

_ the void calls me forth  _

**_ino-yeet-chi_ **

_ KIBA NO. LEAVE THEM ALONE. SHINO GET YOUR BOY _

_ glasses has left the chat _

Neji laughed to himself at something you said. He then leaned in to grasp your chin to press a soft kiss to your mouth. Not wanting to push you. Kiba could hardly believe it. He got up and slipped into the bathroom. 

_ the void calls me forth  _

**_fur culture_ **

_ Holy- DUDE  _

You felt your phone vibrate and Neji felt his too. You both grabbed your phones and checked the messages. His eyes shot up and scanned for Kiba keenly aware. You were confused. You also looked over the messages and glared. 

“He’s here somewhere.” you groaned. 

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at you almost apologetically. 

“I’m sorry.” 

You shook your head. You grabbed his back and yours and pulled him from the cafe. 

“Don’t be sorry. I know where we can go where no one will find us.” 

You and Neji dipped through the streets. He allowed himself to be pulled by you while you brought him to a home. He didn’t recognize this house. You explained it was your grandfather’s home, but he wasn’t home. You had a treehouse in the backyard that you wanted to show him. He was surprised to see this. 

“Whoa.” 

“I know.” 

You climbed up the rope ladder and Neji followed closely as you went up. Inside the treehouse, it looked older but sometimes you still come up to be alone or to play music. Neji stood hunched because it was made for you who had never been very tall. He looked around and smiled. 

“Finally.” he groaned. 

He grabbed your face softly and kissed you properly. You gasped quietly and he kept one hand on your face and the other on your waist to make sure this was real. You both needed air eventually and he actually started to giggle. You laughed and the two of you spent the afternoon in the early fall air laughing, stealing kisses, and being in each other's presence. 


End file.
